


Road Trip

by NightsMistress



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 15:19:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/pseuds/NightsMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nita and Kit go on a road trip following graduation. However, the road isn't the only thing they're navigating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Colourofsaying](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colourofsaying/gifts).



Nita had assumed that on graduating high school she would shed her awkward duckling shell and blossom into, if not necessarily a swan, certainly a poised, self-assured adult. It therefore came as quite a surprise when, after she crossed the stage and accepted her diploma, she didn’t feel any different. From Kit’s baffled expression after he crossed the stage some time after her, he felt much the same way.

 _Shouldn’t we feel … like grownups?_ she asked Kit as they stood, waiting for the remainder of their class to accept their diplomas.

 _I don’t know,_ Kit said. _What does being a grownup feel like?_

Nita was still pondering Kit’s question when the ceremony finished.

*

Nita stood in the living room of her house with her suitcase open on the floor, mentally checking off her list to ensure she had brought everything with her. Satisfied she had, she went to look for her father, who was in the kitchen frowning over a recipe.

“Are you _sure_ you want to do this?” Nita’s father said, looking up.

“ _Dad_ ,” she said, making a face. “We’ll be fine. You let Kit and I go off world for a vacation before and nothing happened.”

“I know, and I trust you,” her dad said. Nita could hear the unspoken but..

“I’ll check in every day,” she said. “Promise.”

Her father looked torn, but finally he nodded. “Every day,” he repeated. 

“Yes, dad,” she said. “Don’t you trust Kit?”

“I trust all three of you,” her father said. “That doesn’t mean I like this.”

Nita gave her dad a quick hug. “I know, and I _really_ appreciate you agreeing.”

Her father returned the hug. “Have fun, sweetheart.”

“I will,” Nita said after the hug ended. “I’ll check in tonight.”

She stopped at the door, turned and waved at her dad. 

“Your mother would be so proud,” he said.

“Yeah,” Nita said. It was still bittersweet, talking about her mother in the past tense. “I know.”

She went out to meet Kit and Ronan in the car waiting outside. 

Kit had finally finished working on the Edsel, and as a graduation present his father had gifted it to him. To break it in, Nita had suggested that they take it on a road trip.

“We could go somewhere no one on Earth’s been,” she had said. “Think of the cred it’d get at college with the other cars.”

Things had spiralled out from there, to become the road trip it was now: they were travelling to a series of planets further down the Arm, which had had some contact with humanoids and were incredibly keen to meet some humans from Earth, having consumed the entirety of Sex and the City. The fact that Nita and Kit were from New York seemed to be an additional incentive to invite them to visit. When Kit had suggested that they invite Ronan along as well, Nita didn’t have any objections, though she wondered if perhaps she should have. Eventually she took it as a sign, but was not quite sure what that sign was at present. She had learned through years of practicing the Art that she couldn’t force her prescience to work when she wasn’t ready to understand it. She’d have to wait.

“Ready to go,” Kit asked from the driver’s seat. 

Nita slid into the backseat, raising an eyebrow at the luggage already encroaching into her space.

“Did I miss something?” she remarked. “I thought we were only going for a week, even if we are planet hopping.”

“That’s Ronan’s,” Kit said. “He wouldn’t put it into the trunk.”

“I have my reasons,” Ronan said.

“Are these reasons you want to squash me with your seventeen pairs of boots?” Nita said, shoving the suitcase back. She was surprised at how easily it moved. “Is this empty?”

“I have instructions. Souvenirs,” Ronan said. “Your sister was very insistant, Kit.”

“Right,” Nita said.

“Last call,” Kit said. “We’re leaving in four.”

“Ready,” Nita said, clicking her seatbelt into place.

“I’m good,” Ronan said.

Kit put the car into the gear that had taken months of careful tinkering and conferring with Sker’ret to pull off, and the car drove serenely into a temporary transit point.

*

Laurintis was a desert world, with carefully maintained terraformed domes providing the necessary moisture to stop its inhabitants from dehydrating, and open transit passages from dome to dome for transportation of goods, as Laurintis’ inhabitants were reluctant to travel outside their domes unless they had to. As the Edsel drove into the world from New York, a bubble formed over it to protect the inhabitants from the hot, dry air.

“Slick,” Ronan said, nodding in appreciation. “I barely noticed the transit.”

“Thanks,” Kit said, beaming. “I knew it’d work.”

“Okay, we need groceries,” Nita said. “Otherwise we’re going to end up eating one another.”

“Practical as always,” Ronan said, fiddling with the GPS mounted to the dashboard.

“Second button from the top,” Kit said, not looking away from the road. “It has our route.”

“There’s a store up ahead,” Nita said, squinting at the display. “About an hour away.”

They spent the next hour working out what kind of groceries they needed. Nita was grateful that she had been the one shopping for their family for the last few years, because while Ronan knew how to shop for himself, he didn’t know how to shop for a group, and Kit had no idea at all. That said, by the time they had arrived, they had hammered out a list of things they needed, and entered it into the shopping machine.

The first difficulty came with payment.

“It wants a what?” Kit said, frowning.

“A series of couplets to the value of the supplies,” Nita read.

“Uh,” Ronan said. “I hope you guys are good at poetry, because I’m not.”

“Not really,” Nita said.

“Maybe it’s the thought that counts,” Kit said. He cleared his throat. “Please help us with our accounts.”

“That was _awful_ ,” Ronan said. Nita shot him a look.

“We’d like to settle today, so we can go our way,” she said after thinking. Both of them looked at Ronan, who scowled and started counting syllables on his fingers.

“Say what you want us to do, then our transaction is through,” he said finally, glaring daggers at the shopping machine. It buzzed.

“Your goods are in your vehicle,” it said. “Thank you for your purchases.”

“That sucked,” Ronan said on their way out.

“No, yours sucked,” Kit said. “And you almost got our groceries impounded. You weren’t supposed to talk after we started rhyming.”

“It’s done now,” Nita said, taking the driver’s seat. “Let’s go instead of complaining whose fault it was.”

*

They had arrived at their hotel stop late and due to some communication errors, had ended up in the only room for humanoids left, which had the misfortune of also only containing one bed. The receptionist apologized profusely for the mistake, but they were really too tired to care.

“I can sleep on the couch,” Ronan said, when they opened the door to their room. “You two take the bed.”

The room was surprisingly familiar. Nita supposed it had to do with human media, and how ubiquitous the standard hotel room had become, though she did appreciate that they had an electric kettle along with the bar fridge that Ronan was putting their alcohol into.

“How much do you expect we’ll drink?” Kit said with some consternation.

“You have to divide by three,” Ronan said. “It’s not as much as it looks.”

Kit and Nita exchange looks. 

“Also I have a higher alcohol tolerance than you do,” Ronan said after a minute.

“You mean we’re enabling an alcoholic,” Nita said.

“Hey!” Ronan said, before noticing her smile. “Rude. You’ll regret that later.”

“So you’re planning on getting us drunk and having your way with us,” Kit said. “Nice to know.”

“Oh no,” Ronan said. “You’re onto me. What will I do?”

“Hand those out, for one,” Nita said. “You’d better be telling the truth about these not tasting awful.”

Ronan handed her a bottle with a clear liquid inside. “I think what I said was ‘It’ll taste of sugar water, so it will taste disgusting, but you’ll like it’.”

“Same thing,” Nita said, cracking the bottle open and taking a long drink from it.

“Uh,” Ronan said. “You’re going to regret doing that.”

“No kidding,” Kit said, while examining the label.

“I’ll be fine,” Nita said.

Ronan sighed. “It’s a good thing you’re not doing this at college. Who knows what trouble you’d get into.”

Nita looked up from when she was texting her dad with an update. “What does that mean?”

Ronan sighed again. “I just hope you’re not an excitable drunk.”

*

The three of them had settled around the couch. Nita leaned against Kit, who had an arm slung around her shoulder.

“Will this change?” Nita asked. “Will _we_ change?”

“God, I hope so,” Ronan said from where he was sitting between her and Kit’s legs, a beer in one hand and his back resting against the couch base. “I can’t imagine anything more horrible than being seventeen.”

“Sixteen,” Kit offered.

Ronan conceded the point with a nod. “But I don’t know what you two are worrying about. Going away for uni was one of the best things I did.”

“What do you mean?” Kit said.

Ronan rolled his shoulders, trying to find a comfortable spot. “You just get to test things out. Find out if things fit you better.”

The alcohol made her bold, and Nita leaned down and kissed Ronan, feeling Kit share the experience as well. The two of them could sense Ronan’s surprise, and noted that he wanted it as much as they did, before he kissed her back.

“Like that?” Nita said, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her mouth. She felt Ronan swallow.

“Yeah,” he said. “Like that.”

“Now it’s your turn to listen,” Kit said to him, leaning over him to kiss Nita. Kissing Kit was like coming home after being away; they’d done it so often that they didn’t need to think about what the other wanted before doing it, as they already knew. They pulled away and looked at Ronan.

“We’re going to regret this tomorrow,” he said. 

“I’m the precognitive,” Nita said. “And I say we don’t.”

“Oh, all right,” Ronan said, climbing to his knees. Kit leaned forward, his hands resting on Ronan’s shoulders for balance, before kissing him. Nita closed her eyes and listened to their reactions, and took a note of how Kit reacted to Ronan using his teeth. She hadn’t thought to try that.

“You don’t kiss like she does,” Kit said, pulling away. Ronan sat down on the ground.

“I’ve done it more,” he said. “Though I’m better sober.”

“We’ll take that under advisement,” Nita said dryly. “Also I kiss _fine_ ,” she said, gently kicking Kit.

“I never said there was anything _wrong_ with how you kissed, just that it’s different to how Ronan does it!”

“I told you we’d regret it,” Ronan said, resting his head against the couch and closing his eyes.

“No, we won’t,” Kit said. “Weren’t you listening?”

“Though we might regret not getting enough sleep tomorrow. Who’s on driving duty first up?” Nita said.

“Me,” Ronan said, not opening his eyes. “Which is why I’m sleeping now.”

Kit kicked him. “Not here you’re not. We have a bed. We’ll fit.”

They did, just, if they didn’t mind losing an awful lot of personal space. They didn’t.

*

Nita woke up the next morning to Ronan, wearing sunglasses against the glare of the morning sun from the open front door to their hotel room, shaking her and Kit awake.

“How are you awake?” she said, making a face. As far as new experiences, she wasn’t keen on hangovers.

“Unlike you guys, I’m going into my _third_ year of uni,” Ronan said. “You’d be surprised the things I’ve done on three hours of sleep and a hangover.”

“Ugh,” Kit said, pulling away from Ronan’s hand.

“Come on,” Ronan said. “The car’s packed, the room’s paid for, and you guys can sleep on the way.”

“On the way to what?” Nita said, sitting up and running her hand through her hair. “Ick, Kit, you drooled on my hair.”

“Sorry,” Kit said, looking sheepish. “But I thought we only had one day here. Are you sure we’re not going to miss our transit?”

“No, no, we’re fine,” Ronan said. “I asked about a shortcut to the worldgate. There’s time enough for this.”

“But what is it?” Nita said.

“That’s for me to know and for you to die of curiosity trying to find out,” Ronan said. “Though I’d get changed before you die of desperate interest.”

“I,” Nita said with utmost dignity as she collected the clean set of clothes that she had left on the chair the night before. “Am going to have a shower first.”

“Thought you might,” Ronan said. “Towels are in the bathroom.”

“You could make yourself useful with coffee,” Kit said, sitting up and squinting sleepily. 

“What am I, your mother?” Ronan said. “Besides, we’ve been over this. I’m terrible at coffee.”

“Ick,” Kit said, scrubbing at his face. “Neets, don’t take too long in the shower. You used up the hot water last time.”

“I did not,” Nita said. “That was Ronan.” She closed the bathroom door on Ronan’s indignant _It was not!_

She caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror and frowned. There was nothing in the girl that was reflected back at her that showed she was an adult. She just looked the same she always had, tired, rumpled and with terrible bed hair. It certainly didn’t have the answers to the questions she sought, especially the most pressing one: what now?

“Ugh, never mind,” she told her reflection, before misting it away by turning the shower heat up.

“You didn’t use up all the hot water, did you?” Kit said as she came out of the bathroom, drying her hair off with a towel.

“I could if you keep asking,” Nita said. “But I haven’t yet.”

“That’s cruel,” Ronan said, from where he was sprawled on the couch. “God only knows what Kit would do if he couldn’t boil himself awake every morning.”

“Don’t forget you have to sleep sometime,” Kit said as a final salvo before closing the bathroom door.

Nita smiled to herself as she ran a comb through her hair and tied it back. 

“Ah, our Kit is sunny as always,” Ronan said. 

“You could learn how to make coffee,” Nita said, getting up to put the electric kettle on. “It’s honestly not that hard. It’s like tea but with coffee.”

“That’s informative,” Ronan said. “But it’s nothing of the sort. I’ll leave it for you two to fix your drug of choice.”

Kit came out of the shower, shirtless and grousing about how he couldn’t find a clean shirt to wear. Nita handed him a cup of coffee.

“You’re my favorite,” he told her earnestly, breathing in the aroma.

“As I should be,” Nita said. “Your shirt is on the chair, by the way.”

“I’d throw it to you but it’s not as if you could catch it,” Ronan said. Kit rolled his eyes, put the paper cup down, and collected his shirt.

“Kit,” Nita said as he pulled the shirt over his head. “You can drink that in the car, right?”

“I _suppose_ ,” Kit said, in the tones of the greatly martyred. “But if it spills, you’re talking it out.”

“Fine,” Nita said.

“I’m not doing that,” Ronan said. “You’re on your own.”

“Thanks, Ronan,” Nita said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Kit added, equally tart, as he picked his paper cup of coffee up and they headed out to the car. “Try not to kill us while I’m drinking.”

“I’m a better driver than you, even if you guys drive on the wrong side,” Ronan said, getting into the driver’s seat. Kit sat in the front passenger’s seat, while Nita took up the back with some of their luggage. “Next stop, shameless tourist attraction.”

*

Nita drifted awake to the sound of Kit talking.

“You know Nita and I aren’t going to the same college,” Kit said.

“The tweets about it did make that clear,” Ronan said.

Kit sighed. “Could you be slightly less sardonic this morning?”

“Probably, but it’ll cost you. What’s eating you?”

There was a silence. Nita imagined that Kit had his bottom lip caught between his teeth and was worrying at it while he thought what to say. “How do we make it work?”

There was a longer silence this time. “You just do,” Ronan said finally, carefully. “It won’t be as spontaneous as it was, but that doesn’t make it bad. Just different.”

“It’s going to change.”

“Most things do. You wouldn’t want it to be as it was when you two were kids.”

“And now we’ve got …” Nita could hear what Kit hadn’t said: _now we’ve got you as well_.

Ronan snorted. “Oh please. Like you two could tie me down. You stop over where I am, or I come to you sometimes, otherwise we’re free agents.”

“That’s it? We just learn to schedule it in?”

“Yeah. What, did you think it’s hard? Welcome to adulthood. It’s not hard, just involves a lot of planning.”

“That sounds stupid.” Nita had to smile at how annoyed Kit sounded about it.

“It has its perks. You’re the one doing the scheduling. That everything?”

“Yeah,” Kit said finally. “You mind if I sleep?”

“Nah,” Ronan said. “I’ll wake one of you up when I start hallucinating or the like.”

There was silence from Kit, and then after a few minutes, soft snores. After a few minutes more, Ronan said “So I don’t need to have this conversation twice?”

“I can take over driving,” Nita said. 

“Maybe once we get there,” Ronan said. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“You’ve built it up so much it’s not going to live up to expectations, you know,” Nita said, sitting up straight and stretching out her neck.

“Maybe that’s the plan,” Ronan said. “End the holiday with a bang.”

“The bang from where I hit you, maybe,” Nita muttered. “How far away are we, anyway?”

“Oh, about an hour.”

Nita stretched. “Mind if I nap some more?”

“You heard me. It’s fine.”

“All right,” Nita said, closing her eyes and listening to the sounds of the car, Kit’s breathing, and Ronan humming along with the radio.

*

Nita woke up as the car came to a stop. “We’re here.”

“The car could have broken down,” Ronan said.

“Unlikely,” Kit said, sitting up. “This car and I are friends. It wouldn’t betray me like that.”

“So where is here? Or what?” Nita said, pulling her hair out of its ponytail and putting it back up.

“While you two were sleeping I asked what the local kids do here after graduation.”

“And?”

Ronan laughed. “Actually, they don’t do anything special. I just got told there was a decent view up ahead and to not go there after dark unless I wanted to intrude on a private moment.”

“Parking,” Kit said.

“That was the implication,” Ronan said. “Though now I think about it that seems terribly ambiguous. What do you call what we just did with the car?”

“Parking,” Nita said. “It’s all about context.”

“You’ll pick it up in time,” Kit said. “We going to check out this look-out?”

Nita looked across at Kit, then at Ronan, then at the steep slope that led to the look-out. “You guys up for it?”

“I think I can handle it,” Kit said. “How about you, Ronan?”

“I’ll wait,” Ronan said. “Mind the car. It _is_ something of a novelty.”

“Your loss,” Nita said, starting the hike up. 

It was a decent twenty minute walk, though the path levelled out after ten minutes to more of a gentle slope. Nita supposed that the teenagers here would probably appreciate that; rolling up steep slopes must be very draining, even if it’s something you’re used to.

She stopped at the top, and just stared at the view below them. While they were driving, she hadn’t been able to see the stark beauty of the planet they were visiting. Now, she could. She squinted against the glare of the sun on the sand and rocks, gazing down at an arid world and could barely breathe for the splendor of it.

“Look,” she said to Kit, pointing at a bright spark in the sand. “That’s where we bought groceries.”

“And we couldn’t remember what currency they used here,” Kit said on a laugh.

“It looks so far away,” Nita said.

“That’s because Ronan doesn’t know what brakes are for,” Kit said. 

They gazed at the view a little longer.

“Do you remember, back at our graduation ceremony,” Nita said. “Are we grownups yet?”

Kit was silent for a minute, contemplating the view. “I don’t think anyone ever feels like a grownup,” he says finally. “They just get better at faking it.”

Nita considered this. It sounded scary, daunting and, most importantly, it sounded _right_. “Yeah,” she said. 

“We should head back,” Kit said, glancing at his watch. “We’ll be late for our transit to the next place.”

“Yeah,” Nita said. “Bet you anything Ronan’s wandered off.”

“Doubt it,” Kit said as they made their way back down. “I bet he’s asleep.”

“The real reason he didn’t want to come up. He wanted a nap like the old man he is,” Nita said, grinning.

Ronan was asleep in the backseat when they returned, though he woke up as they opened the doors. “Nice view?” he said.

“Yeah,” Nita said. “It’s a pity you missed it.”

“There’ll be another one,” Ronan said, closing his eyes again.

“Yeah,” Nita said quietly. “There will.”

They didn’t say anything more as they drove to the worldgate to transit to their next planet. They didn’t need to.


End file.
